Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Show & Tell, Mia Jae Tiffany Hutchinson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My work examines the concept of the fetish through subject and materiality. By weaving together elements borrowed from Baroque and Pop art, I intentionally disrupt historical norms. The overarching Camp aesthetics serve as a vehicle for subverting established references, while simultaneously imbuing them with a queer sensibility. By recontextualizing classical representations of the figure, I put myself into the work to examine how identity is the Subject but is conflated with the ideas of Objecthood.

References to pornography and sex work play a pivotal role in this body of work. For many trans women, sex work becomes a pragmatic choice …

Things That Are Long, Frankie Gutierrez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Bigfoot has become an important motif for Frankie Gutierrez, especially since his transition in 2021. The characters in this exhibition showcase the deeply personal exploration of transness and non-mainstream trans identities, the in-depth observations of others, and their interactions with transgender people. He compares transness to the likeness of bigfoot, typically an elusive and hard-to-find character that everyone suspects, but has rarely been seen. Evidence of their existence surrounds us, but only those with open minds can truly see them. The characters in this show look like you and me, and no one at all. This exhibition is not meant …

The Cognitive Implications Of Literary Devices And Perspective-Taking On Reading Time, Amelia Ward

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The study of literary devices in the context of published fiction is unusual in psychology; however, some research has suggested that reading time may be influenced by cognitive challenges that come with the extra work that may be necessary to understand the meaning behind an author’s usage of literary devices (Miall & Kuiken, 1994; Egen et al., 2019). Jumping off of this suggestion, this present study aimed to answer the question of whether reading time is influenced by factors such as narrative perspective, the usage of literary devices, a person’s print exposure, and a person’s need for cognition, as well …

Re-Evaluating Egalitarian Design In Contemporary Danish Society, Alice Baughman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines the discourses and practices of egalitarian architecture in contemporary Denmark. Denmark’s long standing comprehensive welfare system promotes, for all citizens, equal access to education, healthcare, and public services, and other opportunities. Similarly, its own brand of socially progressive, egalitarian architecture encourages spatial designs intended for use by all people regardless of social disparities. Drawing on a range of sources from government documents to architectural magazines to design projects themselves, this study defines the historical development of this discourse going back to Modernist and Functionalist movements in the 1930s. By revealing the cultural and demographic assumptions on which …

2024-05-00 Newsletter, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress newsletter from May of 2024.

Applied Art Thinking Workshop, Anne Brisson

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

ABSTRACT OF PROJECT

Applied Art Thinking Workshop

This is an action research project, testing my hypothesis that art thinking techniques can be used to develop creative-thinking skills. I implemented two workshops to test my idea of using art, and in this case drawing, to help people develop creative-thinking skills. The first workshop was virtual, intended as a pilot to resolve any process issues. The second workshop was in-person as a part of the CREA Conference in Italy.

Prior to discussing the outcomes and key learnings of the workshops I spend a big portion of this paper explaining the three key …

Cultural And Structural Barriers Of Utilizing Mental Health Services In A School-Based Setting For Latinx Populations, Silvia Lozano, Bridgette Guadalupe Calderon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This qualitative research study aimed to reduce mental health service disparities in Latinx communities and helps fill in the gap by addressing cultural and structural barriers to utilizing MHS in a school-based setting for Latinx youth. There is limited research regarding Latinx parents’ perspectives and the reservations they have on utilizing school-based mental health services (MHS) for their children. This study identified six important themes: cultural factors, trust and rapport, reservations, access and awareness, parental involvement and challenges, and school-based resources. Implications for school districts are that they can use these findings to increase early intervention mental behavioral health programs …

The Emerging Impacts Of Tourism On The Economy Of The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Study Of Oil And Tourism, Dania Abu Jabal

Master's Theses

Saudi Arabia was heavily dependent on oil, which caused an economic crisis due to the collapse of global oil prices. In 2016, the Saudi government launched Vision 2030 to diversify the Saudi economy and avoid dependence on oil revenues. One aim of Vision 2030 is to initiate numerous tourism initiatives to boost the tourism industry's economic impact, elevating its contribution from 3% of GDP to 10% by 2030.

This paper provides the necessary assessment to understand tourism's role and contribution to the Saudi economy and to determine whether the industry's growth is on the right track. Also, this paper also …

Eliciting A Syncopated Response From An Ensemble, Thomas Trautman

Dissertations

This dissertation began the process of aggregating available knowledge on the subject of eliciting a syncopated response from a musical ensemble from professors of conducting and conducting textbooks, searching for commonalities, and distilling them into several independent variables which can then be quantitatively tested in an experimental or quasi-experimental setting in future research.

Participants (n = 11) were Directors of Choral Activities, or any other job title with similar responsibilities, at universities which confer doctoral degrees in Choral Conducting. Each participant was required to have a different educational background than every other participant. Participants were given 15 examples of …

Einstein's Dream By Cindy Mctee: An Analysis And Transcription For Wind Ensemble, Kyle Aufderhar

Dissertations

Cindy McTee’s 2005 composition for strings, percussion, and computer music is an exploration in pluralism, combining newly composed music and computer-synthesized sounds with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles Ives. McTee’s initial use of Bach’s music comprises the complete harmonization of the chorale “Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott.” In later sections of the work, McTee creates entire textures from the chorale’s soprano line, subjecting it to a variety of treatments including augmentation, diminution, inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion. In addition to the inclusion of his music, McTee reiterates the importance of Bach through composition that relies on …

Camp À La Campagne: Francis Poulenc’S Les Animaux Modèles, C.J. Everett

Dissertations

Francis Poulenc’s ballet Les Animaux modèles [The model animals] premiered in 1942 at the Paris Opéra during the German occupation of Paris to favorable reviews from prominent voices in the Parisian musical scene. Set in the French countryside (la campagne) in the seventeenth century, the ballet is a seemingly honest depiction of quaint rural life. To create the short vignettes that comprise the work, Poulenc (1899–1963) adapted well-known fables of the poet Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95). Existing discussions of Les Animaux modèles primarily focus on the ballet’s conception during World War II and the political implications of …

Simulacra And Historical Fidelity In Digital Recreation Of Lost Cultural Heritage: Reconstituting Period Materialities For The Period Eye, Trent Olsen, James Hutson, Charles O'Brien, Jeremiah Ratican

Faculty Scholarship

The advancement of digital technologies in art history has opened avenues for reconstructing lost or damaged cultural heritage, a need highlighted by the deteriorated state of many artworks from the 1785 Salon. Grounded in the concept of the “Period Eye” by art historian Michael Baxandall, which emphasizes understanding artworks within their original historical and cultural contexts, this study proposes a subfield focused on Reconstituting Period Materialities for the Period Eye. This methodology bridges comprehensive historical research with generative visual artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, facilitating the creation and immersive virtual reality viewing of artworks. Beyond mere visual replication, the approach aims …

The Co-Dependent Arising Of Liberation: An Exploration Of Buddhist Thought And Social Justice Models, Emily Ward

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

The language of liberation is prevalent in both spiritual and activist communities: the intersection of these practices, of liberating ourselves on the planes of embodied existence and beyond, interests me deeply. While the limitations of language are frequently expounded in Buddhism, the similarities between Buddhist and social justice terminology are what initially piqued my interest in exploring how key ideas from each field could be enhanced by mutual understanding. While much work has already been done in the field of Socially Engaged Buddhism, I hope to contribute to it by examining two models I have found useful in teaching racial …

Chaucer’S Lists And The Parson’S Priests: Heresy, Censorship, And The Parson's Tale, Samantha Burleson

Master's Theses

Chaucer’s Parson’s Tale is a sermon on penance told by a fictional late-fourteenth-century Parson in The Canterbury Tales. What the Parson preaches is incompletely aligned with Roman Catholic orthodox beliefs, as suggested both by accusations of Lollardy elsewhere in the Canterbury Tales and heterodox features of the sermon itself. The Parson’s soteriology—the theology of how to attain salvation—invites consideration of the sermon’s potential influence from the contemporary heretical movement known as Lollardy, including the theology of John Wyclif; this theology disagreed with orthodox Catholic penitential practices.

However, despite increasing anti-Wycliffite sentiment at the turn of the fifteenth century, Chaucer’s …

Embodying The Spiral: A Critical Framework For Returning To The Body Through Dance/Movement Therapy, Lilah Van Rens

Dance/Movement Therapy Theses

Spirals are fundamental to human existence–present in natural geological forms, skeletal and muscular pathways, and developmental patterns. Characteristics of the spiral in relation to the body include: spatiotemporal nonlinearity, the embracing of polarities and dismantling of binaries, grounded curiosity, “contra-lateral connectivity” and multidimensional integration and transformation. Nonlinear and spiralic temporality have been continually embodied, recorded, and practiced transgenerationally in Black, Indigenous, and queer communities as a form of resurgence, resistance, self-expression, building community and being in the world. How can embodying the spiral be a radical resistance to systems of oppression that continually isolate and disconnect people from one another …

Composing From The Margins: The Breaking Of Writing Barriers, Empowering Voices & Broadening The Work Of Feminist Composition Studies, Jasmin Salgado

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The concept of identity politics within Composition Studies acknowledge how a writer’s social identity (race, gender, sexuality, disabilities, etc.) influences their writing style and shapes their language. Understanding the relationship between social identity and writing practices means recognizing the diverse perspectives writers bring to the writing classroom. In alignment with this perspective, feminist composition studies emphasize the importance of centering marginalized voices and creating inclusive learning environments where students can safely express their identities through writing. However, research reveals that diverse perspectives haven’t always been welcomed in academic spaces. Feminist compositionists unveil how discourse around writing conventions and language norms …

Plagiarism And Original Authorship In The Age Of Ai: Present Complications And Future Directions, Sarah D. Lagioia

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The concept of plagiarism, or the passing off of work produced by others as one’s own without appropriate acknowledgement of the source of creation, is not a new one. It is, however, being complicated in new and interesting ways by technological innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI)-based natural-language processing (NLP). In this paper, I investigate the present complications of defining and responding to plagiarism in the age of AI and suggest the future direction of our grappling with text-generative NLP programs such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This paper will describe perspectives on plagiarism and potential reasons behind the use of AI …

Humanity Amid Innovation: Exploring Our Relationship To Technology, Sarah Durkee

Senior Theses and Projects

This thesis examines the impacts of technology on fundamental aspects of human nature and experience. Drawing on the works from Kant, Turing, Arendt, Benjamin, and Freud, it explores how rapid technological change is redefining human reason, intelligence, and creativity in the digital age. The first chapter analyzes whether modern online communication platforms realize or undermine Kant's vision of an enlightened public sphere fostering free discourse and critique. It argues that prioritizing engagement over substantive debate, these digital realms corrode the depth of interaction essential for cultivating human reason. The second chapter explores the pursuit of artificial intelligence as a reproduction …

What's In A Name? Plant Naming As Cultural Artifact And Story In The Midwestern United States, Sophie Wesseler

Undergraduate Theses

This project sought to collect and contextualize the historical and contemporary names given to plants by inhabitants of the Midwestern United States, understanding plant names as cultural artifacts that can offer insight into the communities in which they were created and evolved. Formatted as a series of entries, this collection gathered these names and contextualized them within other artifacts of cultural significance, such as art or poetry, and alongside historical research on their origins and cultural environments. Examining plant names through the fields of linguistics, semiology, anthropology, cultural studies, taxonomy, and ethnobotany, this work traces the names of various plants …

Cuerpos/Vessels, Maria Jesus Alonso

Graduate Artistry Projects and Performances

I have always considered myself a “process” artist, immersing myself in every twist and turn of my creative journey. I find deep interest and satisfaction in the act of creation, the process itself.

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My thesis project began to take shape in the Summer of 2023 during my pursuit of a Masters in Studio Art. It was during a sculpture class that my fascination with three-dimensional art ignited. Simultaneously, a course on the intricate craft of Japanese papermaking introduced me to the use of Kozo fibers, which come from mulberry trees. This was a brand-new material that I was very …

Banned Books And Educational Censorship: The Necessity Of Keeping Queer Books In Schools, Rebecca Rhodes

English (MA) Theses

Despite most parents and students fundamentally disagreeing with the censorship of books, book banning has spiraled out of control in the United States. The number of new book bans rises almost exponentially every school year, and books with queer themes are targeted far more frequently. Pro-ban advocates use deliberately demeaning rhetoric to garner support for their cause, and in doing so, they’ve managed to take away an educational resource from millions of children in both classrooms and school libraries, because queer-themed books help foster a sense of community for queer children and teens, something that is looked down upon by …

"Old Cod": The Power Of Storytelling In Conor Mcpherson's The Weir, Sarah Johnson

English (MA) Theses

This paper examines the representation of Irish storytelling in Conor McPherson’s 1997 play The Weir. Drawing on postcolonial theory as well as the historical context of Ireland during the play’s release, I argue that The Weir is uniquely positioned at the intersection of traditional and modern values. Further, I assert that fairy legend is a tool used by the play’s characters to both understand and escape a fluctuating cultural landscape, and ultimately, a way to articulate their own values. Using textual analysis, I examine the rhetorical choices of the play’s storytellers and compare it with established conventions of Irish …

Computational Linguistics And Multilingualism: A Comparative Analysis With Spanish And English Data, Evelyn Lawrie

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Computational linguistics is an increasingly ubiquitous field, serving as the basis for artificial intelligence and machine translation. It aims to analyze the syntax and semantics of individual words and phrases. While there have been in-depth advancements in computational linguistics strategies for the English language, others have not been developed as thoroughly. This lack of emphasis on multilingualism has contributed to the disappearance of Hispanic perspectives in the digital world. Especially those of indigenous heritage, as the decline of many indigenous languages has been exacerbated by the lack of digital translation services. Sentiment analysis is a branch of computational linguistics that …

The Space That Tell Stories, Asia Gonzalez

Theses

This project focuses on visual storytelling in game design. The primary focus of this project is to create an environment that tells a story through visual exposition and very minimal dialogue or written words. Furthermore, the project studies the ways in which a story can be both a visual and interactive experience.

Review: A Brick And A Bible: Black Women’S Radical Activism In The Midwest During The Great Depression, By Melissa Ford, Brent M. S. Campney

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Color Psychology: How Colors Can Reflect Our Emotions In Relation To Gender, Age, And Cultural Background., Virginia Alvisi

Honors Theses

Our lives are surrounded and influenced by colors. Colors help us in our everyday lives, from helping us understand different concepts to helping us drive around town with road signs and streetlights. Colors regulate our lives not only physically but also, especially, psychologically. Warm and bright colors can give insight into
energy and happiness. On the contrary, cool and dark ones can be soothing and calming.

Research has demonstrated that colors can shape our experiences and affect our psycho-emotional status (our mental state related to a situation or circumstance). To demonstrate the link between our psycho-emotional state and the use …

Radical Antiracism And Anti-Queerphobia In Politicised Education Environments Through Critical Race Theory And Queer Theory, Mina Aubrey Weeks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In 2023, the Utah legislature passed bills that alter how secondary education teachers can talk about “divisive topics,” usually referring to topics of race, LGBTQ, or other systemic topics like classism and nationalism. Many teachers committed to anti-racism and anti-queerphobia do not want to water down topics of race and LGBTQ, but they also do not want to lose their jobs for teaching race and LGBTQ in a way that the law restricts. Critical Race Theory and Queer Theory have typically been framed as anti-White, anti-cishet, or overall divisive by State critics due to their radical ideologies, but this comes …

Broadway Theatre And The Covid-19 Pandemic: How Pre-Shutdown Longevity Impacted Production Success, Emmeline A. Lignowski

College Honors Program

On March 12, 2020 New York’s Broadway theaters halted performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After a year and a half of closure, Broadway finally reopened in August 2021, however, the market was drastically different from its pre-shutdown state. In the midst of a global pandemic, new productions faced increased challenges when trying to establish themselves on the Broadway stage, and even old productions struggled to recoup losses. In this paper, multiple regression analysis and a Cox proportional hazards model were used to test whether a production’s pre-shutdown longevity impacted its success after Broadway reopened. It was found that productions …

Pompeiian Mill-Bakeries: Spatial Organization And Social Interaction, Madeleine Rubin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines bread production and the daily lives of those who worked in mill-bakeries during the first century CE. Bread was the staple food across the ancient Mediterranean; however, there is little textual evidence about those who produced the bread that fed the Roman Empire. The most significant body of evidence relating to the lives of mill-bakers is the archaeological remains of mill-bakeries from the city of Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. This thesis analyzes the spatial organization of bread production within these mill-bakeries and applies the methodologies of spatial syntax – a …

“Singular And Beautiful City”: Nineteenth Century English Travel Literature And Venice, John Sheehan

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Joseph Mallord William Turner was one of England’s most noteworthy artists in the early nineteenth century. Turner’s works, which included both domestic and foreign views, are known for expressing light and atmosphere in a unique way unlike other artists of the time. Turner took liberties with the topographic arrangements of the cities and landscapes that he painted, which again differed from many of the artists who preceded him. His foreign works were especially well received by critics and buyers alike in England. In 1815, many English artists including Turner set out for the newly reopened continent, with the intent of …